Fall is here – and this ode to Seattle’s rain is back

Every fall, the rain returns. And so does this beautiful essay that just brilliantly explains why so many of us actually love it. The essay, by long-time Seattleite Lee LeFever, has been read a whopping 200,000 times on Medium, and was one of the five most popular posts the month it was published in 2014.

“Every year about now I re-read @leelefever’s homage to the end of summer in Seattle,” tweeted Trevor Klein.

You might as well call Lee’s essay a love letter to Seattle weather. He explains why locals who are crazy enough to welcome months of mist after weeks of sunshine aren’t crazy at all: “It provides a sense of relief, a return to normalcy, a time to get back to real life and get things done.”

The essay also gives locals a way to genuinely celebrate something we’re expected to complain about. “I wanted to give people the sense that, it’s OK. It’s OK to like the rain,” Lee said.

Lee woke up to his love of the gray nine years after moving here. He had just returned from a trip around the world. “I came back and realized, there is no climate that I want more than this Seattle climate.”

The prospect of waiting nine years to really love the rain may seem like a drag to the newbies among you. But there’s a way to deal, Lee said: “It’s a conversion to an interior lifestyle. Find ways to make the interior of your home a more warm, cozy space.”